Up Is Down

Finally! My piece for the Aspect of Balodius event over at Enjoy my ridiculously long "snippet" of story:

I could feel my hackles rise as Reva’s partner lumbered off in the general direction of the buffet with my friend trotting at his side. Unbelievable! She’d gotten a dance partner before I had! And while he seemed like a decent gryphon, I’d made it quite it clear to him that I wasn’t the slightest bit fooled, and would be watching his every move. I just knew there must be something else on his agenda. How else could Reva have beaten me to the punch?

I wasn’t going to stand for this.

True, I was somewhat befuddled when I wasn’t instantly swamped by lady gryphs the moment I landed (what with me being the most handsome gryphon alive and all). Nevertheless, as I walked amongst the other attendees, heads did turn. Oh, I was spoiled for choice! Everywhere I glanced were beautiful girls; here a gull adjusted her skull-mask, there a barn owl tightened the ribbons tied to her primaries, a pied raven preened her glowing feathers, a harrier-hawk roused. So many pretty, pretty girls! I – Ooh.

She was sitting off by herself in a shaft of moonlight, transfixed on the night sky. She wore a bark mask decorated with acorns, berries, and leaves and a quaint little woven bracelet. Oh yes, I’d found my partner.

When I asked her to dance with me, she was so adorably flustered, she couldn’t speak! But, as I soon found out, what she lacked in self esteem, she more than made up for with aerial prowess.

I shouldn’t have been surprised, really. She was a Peregrine; fancy flying comes naturally to those of her kind. But I was surprised. As we danced around the circle of pillars, talons clasped, she abruptly tucked in her left wing and swung downwards. Very surprised indeed. The sudden jerk pulled me off balance, and I nearly had a messy collision with the nearest pillar. Fortunately, and due in no small part to the grace I innately possess, I was able to pass it off as a natural follow-through to our dancing.

I fully intended to call her out on that little stunt, but the mirth shining in her eyes rendered me speechless, and suddenly, my wrenched shoulder didn’t seem like such a big deal anymore.

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Fake screenshot is fake.

My partner was the amazing and incredibly talented Check out her piece! [link]

I'm not going to fool myself into thinking I can paint something that can stand up to the level of technical skill most of the other 'Windsonders' have, so instead I decided to try for an original and dynamic composition. I hope I succeeded

Arrgh, I really need to adjust my computer's monitor! I'm submitting this during my CG class, and the original piece was way, way too dark! ([link])
Just the same, I'm still quite proud of this ^^ Equinox is a gorgeous girl, and I'm happy my boy Taffy got paired with such a lovely gryphon <3

There's a reference to both Windfalcon's and =Kei-Eichi's pieces ([link]) in the story bit. Also, other characters mentioned are Arzu, Cotuil, Braenwyen, Kiya, Parsa, and of course, Reva.



PS: title refers to the song I listened to the most while making this; a track from the POTC3 OST [link]

Equinox (c)
Tafari and art (c) me

That's all for now C: